


Delta

by msraven



Series: Universe Hopping [6]
Category: Hurt Locker (2008), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover Pairings, M/M, Magic, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-24
Updated: 2013-01-24
Packaged: 2017-11-26 18:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the Delta universe of Yente and the conclusion of the Universe Hopping series of fics.  (Extended Author's note included.)</p>
<p>
  <i>Phil doesn’t have a destination in mind, just the pressing need to get away - from New York, from SHIELD, from everything.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Delta

**Author's Note:**

> Set immediately after [Chapter 4 of Yente](http://archiveofourown.org/works/538792/chapters/968480)

Phil sees the flash of light out of the corner of his eye and smiles sadly. 

“Think that maybe they’ll get their happy ending?” he asks Will’s headstone. 

Phil rubs his hand reverently across the top of the smooth granite before slipping it toward the back and releasing the catch on the hidden door. He reaches in and pulls out the small sealed box that holds Will’s remains. The box is no bigger than a small pencil case and it amazes Phil how a man so full of life can be condensed into so small a thing. Phil closes the hidden door and places the box in the inner pocket of his jacket, near his heart. 

He climbs back into Will’s car and starts driving. Phil drives through the night and early morning until his eyes are too sore to stay open. He grabs some food, crashes at a seedy motel, wakes up, and starts driving again. Phil doesn’t have a destination in mind, just the pressing need to get away - from New York, from SHIELD, from everything.

One day blurs into the next and Phil eventually takes a meandering route to the center of California’s coastline. He stands at the edge of a sheer cliff and looks out at the ocean, seeing nothing ahead. Phil takes Will’s remains out of his jacket pocket and debates about giving him a final resting place - Will hated sand, but loved the ocean. The location seems fitting, but he can’t stand the thought of losing him in the churning waves below.

“We are at the end,” a female voice says from behind him and Phil whirls around, automatically reaching for a sidearm that isn’t there.

Phil doesn’t realize that the box with Will’s remains has been pulled out of his grip until it is already floating into the woman’s hand. She looks down at the box and then toward Phil expectantly. 

“I’d like that back, if you wouldn’t mind,” Phil says calmly.

“We were unsure if you would remain together,” she responds.

“We?” Phil asks, looking around and seeing nobody else nearby. 

“We are one and we are many,” the woman responds and Phil resists the urge to roll his eyes at her pretentious words. “We are Yente.”

“Are you a mutant, then?” Telekinetics were increasingly more common these days. 

“We are Yente,” the woman repeats and this time, Phil does roll his eyes. 

“Fine, _Yente_ ,” Phil says with gritted teeth, “I’d like that box back...please.”

“It has always amazed us,” she says, completely ignoring Phil’s request, “how similar and yet different you all are.”

Phil raises an eyebrow skeptically, realizing what the woman is alluding to. “Are you really expecting me to believe that you’re somehow tied to the other me that’s jumping universes? It’s a little too coincidental for me to believe.”

“Believe what you may,” Yente says, “but he achieved his...what did you call it? His happy ending.” 

“Great, good for him.” Phil wonders if his sarcasm completely lost on her and sits down heavily on an outcropping of rock. “What does this have to do with me?”

“He, the one you met, and his other proved very...difficult,” Yente continues. “But it seems our final intervention will succeed, so you are the last.”

“Intervention?” Phil can’t help asking.

“Oh yes,” Yente responds almost excitedly. “It has been quite interesting to see how often small, but sometimes larger interventions were required.”

“Required for what?”

“To rejoin your souls, of course,” Yente replies and looks at Phil as if he’s the one having issues with his sanity. 

“Pull my other leg,” Phil says with a bitter twist of his lips. “The idea of a higher being running between universes to play matchmaker is pretty far-fetched.”

“You do not believe us?” Yente asks.

“Fine. Let’s say I believe you’re actually trying to rejoin souls,” Phil fires back. “Why now? Why us? What do you get out of it?”

A look of sadness passes over Yente’s beautiful features. “We seek only to make amends. It was our envy and our scheming that caused the All Being to tear you in two. To banish you into the many, destined to search forever for your other.”

“That’s nothing but a myth,” Phil argues. 

“Surely you have learned by now that all myths are shrouded in some truth.”

Phil buries his face in his hands. He doesn’t want to believe in this, doesn’t have enough hope left inside of him to look for possibilities.

“We were young and brash,” Yente recounts. “It took much time for us to understand how we had wronged you. We vowed to make amends. To help rejoin you all.”

“Help how?” The question slips out before Phil can stop it. 

“Most did not require any aid. Your souls are naturally drawn to one another. The last of you which remained required some intervention, mostly small - a nudge to tell the truth instead of a lie or a whisper to feed an already suspicious mind. The one you met served both his and another’s purpose, because it is sometimes easier to find clarity when forced to look through different eyes.”

“So what does it mean that I’m the last?” Phil asks and curses himself for feeling a flicker of hope. “Didn’t we already have our chance?”

“We did not anticipate the evil which befell you and for that we apologize, but not all things end with death,” Yente says as the box in her hand begins to glow. 

The light grows and lowers slowly to the ground. Phil can’t tear his eyes away as a familiar form takes shape in front of him. He drops to his knees next to Will and reaches out with trembling fingers to check for a pulse. Phil’s fingers touch warm skin as Will gasps awake.

“What the fuck? Phil!” Will cries out and Phil gathers the younger man into his arms, not giving him a chance to say anything else. 

He covers Will’s beautiful face in kisses, repeating “I love you” over and over. Will pulls Phil’s mouth to his in a heated kiss before pulling back to wipe at Phil’s cheeks with his thumbs. It’s only then that Phil realizes there are tears running silently down his face.

Phil makes a useless swipe at his own cheeks before laughing happily. “You’re alive.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” Will pleads, so Phil tells him all of it - from Loki and the helicarrier, to meeting the other universe’s version of Phil, to Yente bringing Will back to life.

“That’s...quite a story,” Will finally says as they sit looking out at the sun setting over the water. 

“It is,” Phil agrees. He laces their fingers together and vows never to let go again.

“Where do we go from here?” Will asks.

“Anywhere we want.”

_fin_

**Author's Note:**

> First off...thank you for taking this journey with me through the different Yente universes. I never intended to write more beyond Yente, but yet here we are. 
> 
> The follow-on fics were planned as small views into each of the universes, showing both a series of “firsts” for each of the pairings and the point in which Yente chose to intervene. Below is a mini cheat sheet if you need/want it. 
> 
> Alpha - Starting a family. Phil and Clint are the difficult ones. Yente has Phil jumping universes to open his eyes and then brings James to life to help Clint find his balance.
> 
> Gamma - Getting married. Yente whispers in Aaron’s ear about Phil trying to get him out of HQ, which lead him to seeing the sparring match between Phil and Sitwell.
> 
> Beta - First meeting/falling in love. Yente nudges Phil to tell Will the truth about why he was researching into his background instead of using work as an excuse. 
> 
> Epsilon - Saying I love you. Yente sends Alpha!Phil to the Epsilon universe in order to give Jason a little clarity of thought. (And yes, for those of you who were wondering, this is why Jason chooses Clint Barton as his new name at the end of All Roads Lead to Rome.)
> 
> Delta - New beginnings. This one is pretty self explanatory. Yente didn’t anticipate Loki and wanted to give Phil and Will another chance at a life together.
> 
> The myth that Yente/Phil refer to is Greek. A quote from Plato according to [goodreads](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/433397-according-to-greek-mythology-humans-were-originally-created-with-4):
>
>> “According to greek mythology, humans were originally created with 4 arms, 4 legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”
> 
> So this is the end, for this series at least. Epsilon will likely continue in the All Roads series and I owe a friend at least one follow-on to the Alpha universe.
> 
> Thanks again for taking the time to follow along. 
> 
> <3 Raven 
> 
> P.S. Extra, super-duper, ginormous thanks to [pyroblaze18 (kultiras)](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/pseuds/pyroblaze18) for being my strongest supporter, cheerleader, beta, and friend. <3 <3 <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unexpected Revelations](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050304) by [msraven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven)




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